Macros, 1 year ago

The linked video of Real Engineering has some major factual errors and omissions. I made a comment where I mentioned some in a neutral tone together with sources. He deleted it, which does not leave a good impression on me.

Here some examples:

The CO₂ per kWh is given as 42 for France. It should be around 100. The number Real Engineering uses is likely from RTE France, however they estimate as follows “For energy sources that are not mentioned [including nuclear], their contribution to CO2 emissions is considered equal to 0 t CO2 eq / MWh”. But there are significant CO₂ Emissions from Nuclear which are generated by the high amount of building materials needed for safety and operational costs. Currently estimated to be around 66g CO₂ per kWh .

It is mentioned that Germany imports energy from France, leaving the impression this is a one way dependency because Germany shut down its nuclear power. In reality the grid is interconnected and energy is constantly moved across borders in both directions. In fact if you look at the numbers France actually imports more from Germany then it exports to it!

Due to the heat in the recent summers and due to necessary repairs on faulty reactors France has switched from being energy exporter to energy importer.